Chapter 29

The next day, Lumae and Dominic went to work. Dominic obviously got there 2 hours early and Lumae only joined him an hour later. She went straight to 'the forest' to go catch up on the research that Jackson had done so far. She was about to pin on her little research, when he suddenly stormed into 'the forest' with heaps of paper.

When he noticed Lumae, he nearly dropped the stack of paper. "Lumae! You're back! I thought you'd never come back!" He rushed past her, put down the papers and immediately embraced her.

"Oh yeah, eheh. We ran into a few difficulties and a lot happened, I'm guessing a lot happened here as well?" She looked over to the massive stack of papers.

"Eheh, yeah. We really need to get you up to date. Maybe over some dinner?"

Lumae was about to respond, "Oh, uh, about that, Jacks-"

He checked his watch and interrupted Lumae, "But for now, we've gotta get going before we're late." He rushed past her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her through the rows of plants.
"Late? Late for what?"

"The meeting, Lumae. Mr. Mortez called a meeting."

She clearly forgot that he wanted to hold a meeting today, she just didn't know why. "Oh right, the meeting."

They headed straight to the shared office, just on time. There were still two or three people left. Scarlett then stepped into the shared office.
"Scarlett!" Lumae sprung into her embrace.

"It's been so long, Mae. You've been on quite the trip, I hear." She nudged Lumae in the arm. "You little rascal, you could've told me about your little secret before Mr. Mortez did you know." The last few people had now entered the office.

"Secret? What secret?"

Scarlett smiled at Lumae and winked as though she knew something that Lumae herself did not yet know. As if she is trying to be a good friend and keep this secret a bit longer.
Dominic then entered the room and once again everyone simultaneously greeted him. Then he sat down.

"Good day, everyone. As you all know, I called you all here to make an important announcement." He paused for a second, looked at Lumae and raised his hand to indicate that she should stand up and go to him, so she did.

She stood up, and walked over to him. He then took her hand in his. "Lumae and I... Are engaged." The entire office's faces dropped. Everyone looked speechless. Especially Jackson. He looked shocked, scared, confused and seemed as though he had lost something.

Lumae looked over at Dominic, confused, but he just slightly tightened his grip, telling her that he'd explain later. He then gestured that Lumae could sit back down and continued with the rest of the meeting.

"So, as you all know, Lumae and I were both gone for quite some time. During this time, I discovered that our company is now at threat from GZ corporation. They seem to want to steal some of our research, leading me to believe that they might have bought a mole. If I find out who it is, you will immediately be turned over to the authorities. In the meanwhile, Lumae and Jackson, you'll still be working on your most recent task, but I urge you to keep 'the forest's' doors locked at all times. That's the conclusion of this meeting. You are all dismissed, except miss Moonshaddow, I would like to see you in my office please."

Everyone walked out of the shared office, leaving Dominic and Lumae alone. "Come now. I need to explain a few things."

Lumae crossed her arms, "Heh, yeah, 'a few things' is an understatement."

Dominic scratched his head, "Yeah sorry about that. Come now, we can't talk here."

Lumae loosened her arms and followed Dominic to his office. Like a stray kitten, who's been fed the wrong fish. When they eventually reached his office, he immediately went to the sofas at the corner of the office, but Lumae was still standing in the doorway.

"Come, sit down. We wouldn't want prying ears to hear, now would we?"

Lumae went and sat down on the sofa opposite of Dominic and folded her arms in expectation. Dominic sighed, "I wanted to tell you what I was planning, but it seems to have completely slipped my mind. I wanted to tell you that you'd be presented as my fiancé today, since we're mates, so we wouldn't have to hide our affection when my heat comes around."

"When your heat comes around?" Lumae was taught very little about heat. She knew it existed and came once, every four months, but she still had no clue how it worked, since she had never been around a male wolf during her own heat.

"Yes, my heat is due in three days and I still have a few things to take care of here, so I can't be struggling to hide my affections towards you at that time. I will also be trying to limit the amount of times we see each other, mostly for your own safety."

Lumae was once again confused, "My own safety? Dominic, what would you possibly want to protect me from?"

He sighed once again, "Myself, Lumae. The first time we slept together, I was able to control myself, but I'm not sure I'll be able to control myself at all when I'm in heat. I might just accidentally..." He stopped himself from speaking further.

"Might just, what, Dominic?"

He looked Lumae straight in the eyes. "I might accidentally mark you without your permission."

Lumae looked at Dominic caringly and placed her hand on his cheek. He leaned into it. "And why would you think that I'd refuse being eternally bonded to you?"

Dominic looked at her surprised. "Wait, so...you-you want to..." Dominic couldn't manage to form words, but Lumae understood him and just nodded. He was so excited that he basically swooped Lumae up off the sofa and into the air, twirling her around, then carefully placing her back down and gave her a big, loving kiss.

"You make me the happiest mate in the world."

Lumae smiled, "Well, of course I would, hehe. What would you do without me?"

Dominic lay his head on Lumae's shoulder. "Let's just stay like this for a bit. You can go back in a few minutes."

Lumae smiled and trailed her hand through Dominic's slick hair and gave him a kiss on the head. "Alright then. Just a little longer."